


Colors Speak Louder than Words

by funhousefreak



Category: Sonic Boom (Cartoon), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Birthday Party, Bisexual Character, Coming Out, I realize that sounds like i was busy explaining gender to an alien, M/M, Surprise Party, Trans Male Character, but i was busy, explaining gender to a naive alien, ftm character, good tagging charlie, in the closet, this should have been posted for pride month, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 22:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19450987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funhousefreak/pseuds/funhousefreak
Summary: Sonic's friends throw him a surprise party for his birthday. But when Amy's gift brings back bad memories, Sonic is left to confide in someone he never thought he would.





	Colors Speak Louder than Words

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all! I wrote this like a month or so ago. I wanted to post it for Pride Month but I was too busy with work/life to publish it in time. So, happy belated Pride! 
> 
> Also, this is edited, but not intensely. So apologies for any errors/clunky phrases. I should care more about editing, but right now I'm too tired. 
> 
> Lastly, apologies if this seems out OOC at all. We know so little about Boom!Shadow so I improvised a lot and drew on Game!Shadow from his earlier games. Again, apologies if it comes off weird.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

“Tails, hang the banner higher!”

“I’m trying! I may be able to fly, but I’m still short!”

“But this needs to be perfect!”

"Why, trying to impress your boy—ow!”

Tails was cut off by Amy throwing her hammer directly at his head. He rubbed the new sore spot and shot her a glare.

“Not like it isn’t true,” he whispered under his breath, but loud enough that Amy could hear him. She shot back with a growl, but was distracted by Sticks slamming the front door open.

“Guys, he’s almost here!”

“Of course he is,” Amy groaned. “Hurry up, Tails!”

“Alright, alright, I got it!” he answered back in frustration as he tied the banner on a support beam.

“Oh no, quick, hide all the scraps and tools! This place can’t be messy!”

“Amy,” Tails retorted calmly, landing beside her, “this is Sonic’s house. It’s always messy.”

“Well it won’t be messy while _I’m_ here,” she protested. She grabbed every unused decoration or tool and started shoving them in drawers.

“He’s approaching!” Sticks cried from her position by the door.

“Where’s Knuckles?” Amy yelled frantically.

“Right here,” the aforementioned echidna said as he walked in from the kitchen, the last bite of a sandwich in his hands.

“You were here the whole time?” Tails asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Yeah, Amy said to be over at 2:00.”

“Yeah, to help us decorate!” she argued. “Not to eat all the food I made!”

“These weren’t free samples?” he asked, glancing down at the remaining bit of food he held.

“Guys, now!” Sticks hissed, in a futile effort to keep her voice down.

“Quick, hide!” Tails ordered.

Everyone jumped behind a piece of furniture or did some other method of hiding, Sticks pressed herself up against the wall behind the front door. Tails flew back into the rafters. Amy dove behind the couch with a squeak. Knuckles looked confused for a moment, before shrugging and heading back into the kitchen.

The front door swung open like usual. With a sigh, Sonic stepped into his house. Tails saw his face from his high position, and it concerned him. Sonic’s face looked…tired, he supposed was the best word for it. His eyelids were slightly lowered. It appeared that he hadn’t slept well last night. His sigh morphed into a yawn, confirming Tails’ suspicion. He decided he’d need to pull Sonic aside at some point this evening and see what was wrong.

But, before he could think too much on it, Amy started the surprise.

“Surprise!” she called as she jumped up from behind the couch. Sticks joined in shortly after her, leaping in front of the door and making Sonic jump. Tails flew down from the rafters with a big smile, his “surprise” the latest of the three. Knuckles walked back in via the kitchen.

“A surprise? For me?” he asked, clutching his chest with his hands. “You guys shouldn’t have!”

Sonic rolled his eyes at his red friend, but he smiled when he turned back to the other three.

“Aw, guys, you’re too sweet,” he cooed, shooting a thankful look at each individual.

“Well, we had to do something for your birthday!” Amy insisted. “Especially your big 2-0!”

“Don’t remind me,” Sonic groaned. “I’m an old man now.”

“Please,” she protested with a light slap to his arm. “You’re not old!”

“Older than all of you!”

“Except Knuckles,” Tails pointed out, jabbing a thumb in the echidna’s direction.

“Yeah,” Knuckles added with crossed arms. “I can drink!”

“ _Legally_ ,” Sonic mumbled with another roll of his eyes.

“Oh, come on! Let’s eat some cake and watch movies!” Amy suggested.

Sonic held his hands up in surrender as he allowed his friends to push him to the kitchen.

~(*)~

“Hm,” Amy hummed through a mouthful of cake.

“What?” Sonic asked after swallowing his own piece.

“It’s just…well, I invited somebody else. I really thought he’d come….”

“Who did you invite?”

“Shadow.” 

Sonic choked on the sip of coke he’d just taken. Tails eyed the duo nervously, while Sticks shook her head in disapproval.

“Why on earth did you invite him?” Sonic cried after finishing his coughing fit.

"Well, you’re friends, right?” Amy asked calmly, taking another bite of cake.

“Uh, no, not really,” Sonic answered. He twirled his fork around in his hand, no longer feeling hungry. “We’re not at each others’ throats anymore. But we don’t exactly chat or hang out. We’re more of…rivals, I guess?”

“I’m not sure you two aren’t at each others’ throats,” Sticks chimed in. “Last time we saw him, he did beat you to a pulp.”

“Oh, please, don’t exaggerate. We were pretty evenly matched.”

“If you say so,” she said. “Still, I never liked that guy. Something’s not right about him.”

“Amy, what made you think it was a good idea to invite him?” Tails finally asked, still nervous.

“I don’t know. I thought it’d be nice!” she explained with an exasperated throw of her hands. “Besides, the more the merrier, right?”

“Not always,” Sticks muttered to herself.

“Okay, enough of this. Let’s start a movie!” Amy decided cheerfully. Tails and Sonic exchanged a look, but didn’t argue.

~(*)~

“I almost forgot!” Amy said as she raced around the house collecting hidden boxes and bags. “You have to open your presents!”

“Amy, we’re not 12,” Sonic rolled his eyes. He loved Amy, but sometimes she was too obsessive over little things.

“Speak for yourself,” Tails playfully spat. Sonic chuckled and lightly punched his younger brother’s arm.

“Fair enough. Alright, let’s do this,” Sonic decided.

Amy gathered up all the gifts and put them on the coffee table. There was one from each attendee. Sonic started with Knuckles’ gift, signified by a large red bag. He removed the tissue to find a pair of red boxing gloves.

“So you might actually be able to deal some damage next time we spar,” Knuckles explained haughtily. “And because red is the best color.”

"Yeah, right,” Sonic said sarcastically as he elbowed his taller friend. “Thanks, Knux.”

“What are friends for?” he responded nonchalantly, but he did raise his head and puff his chest out proudly.

Sonic next grabbed a small brown box. The lack of decoration or color immediately told him it was from Sticks. He opened the box and gently removed what looked like a bracelet mad from twigs and leaves.

“It’s nothing much,” Sticks said. “But it’s more heart-felt and trustworthy than anything _electronic_.” She hissed the last word as if it was poison in her mouth. Sonic noticed Tails roll his eyes from the corner of his eye.

“Thanks, Sticks. It’s awesome.” Sonic gave her a genuine, flashy smile. He glanced down at his wrist before slipping the new piece of jewelry on. He twisted and turned his wrist, admiring how the new item went along with his look.

Once finished, he looked between the last two gifts. One was bright pink and the other a pastel yellow. It was obvious which gift belonged to which friend. Sonic quickly mulled over which to open first. Tails likely gave him a sort of meaningful gift, which might make it better to open last. But Amy had probably made something weirdly personal and somewhat embarrassing. He could try to get that out of the way, or put it off.

Before he could make up his mind, Tails slid the pink bag closer to Sonic. “Mine can wait,” he justified. “It’s nothing cool.”

Sonic gave him a doubtful look, but removed the tissue from the bag anyways. As he tossed aside the last pieces, Amy beamed and tried to not jump out of her seat.

“It’s a…” Sonic started.

“A scrapbook!” Amy finished cheerfully. “I figured since this is a big birthday, it’d be neat to look back on your life so far!”

“Amy, I’m 20, not 70. And most of my life has been fighting Eggman, anyways.”

“That’s why it’s not full yet,” she explained, flipping open the back cover of the book. “See? Plenty of space to add new memories!”

“This is nice, Amy, but uh…where did you get a bunch of photos of me?”

Tails scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he let out an awkward chuckle.

“ _You_ were in on this?” Sonic swiveled his head to his younger brother, who looked very embarrassed.

“Yeah. Well, she needed pictures, I have the most photos of us from childhood, so….”

“You sneaky son-of-a-gun!” Sonic cried in mock offense. Amy shot him a warning glare before she realized he wasn’t actually going to curse. He was usually pretty good about that, but sometimes things slip.

“Alright, alright,” Sticks said, tired of this back-and-forth. “Give it a look already!”

Amy handed the scrapbook back to Sonic. He laid the book out over his lap, turning to the first page. Everyone gathered around the hero, looking at the photos, too. Amy sat on one side of him, and Knuckles on the other. Tails stood behind the sofa, having already seen most of the pictures anyways. Sticks sat on the back of the piece of furniture, directly behind one of Sonic’s shoulders.

“God, Tails, how do you even have a baby picture of me? _I’ve_ never seen a baby picture of me!”

“Found it in a box while unpacking the first time we moved,” Tails said with a shrug. “I don’t know where it came from originally, though.”

Sonic hummed in thought, squinting a little at the photo. Tails watched him, confused by his odd reaction. Nothing seemed strange about the picture, except its mysterious origins. But Sonic continued turning the pages. He recognized most of these photos. A lot of them were him and Tails playing together as children. There was one where Sonic stood proudly atop a defeated Eggman. That was their first battle, and he remembered Tails documenting the moment gleefully. Every once in a while, someone would ask a question about a picture, so Sonic would stop to tell the story behind it. Several of the photos made him smile, others made him groan in embarrassment. But only one made him freeze.

He was standing next to Tails. He had to have been about 12 or 13. Tails was still tiny, only about six then. The duo were standing awkwardly beside each other, much unlike every other photo. Sonic wanted to pull the image out of its protective sleeve and tear it to shreds, but he knew he couldn’t do it in front of the others.

“Oh, hey! I remember this!” Tails said, pointing a finger at the photo. “That was the first time I met your sister!”

“Your sister?” Amy asked, glancing up at Sonic’s face.

“Dude, since when do you have a sister?” Knuckles chimed in, his confusion valid for once.

“She’s never really around,” Tails clarified. “I only met her a couple times, and I haven’t seen her in years.”

“Why have you never mentioned her before?” Amy was looking Sonic dead-on now, but the other was fixated intensely on the photo.

“Uh, Sonic?” Sticks asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

Sonic finally looked up and after a few seconds realized Amy was still staring at him expectantly.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. He tried to keep his voice steady, but he couldn’t help the quieter volume it reached. “I just…uh, we’re not close. I honestly forget about her a lot of the time.”

“Sonic, that’s horrible!” Amy cried. “Shame on you! How dare you forget your own sister?”

“Look, I’ve got enough on my plate here with you four and fighting Eggman daily. I just don’t think about her a lot, that’s all.”

“You must introduce us to her someday,” Amy insisted. Knuckles nodded his head in agreement.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Sonic replied, but his voice was extremely lackluster. “I’ll uh…give her a call and see if she can come visit sometime.”

Amy smiled at him, finally seeming appeased. Knuckles gave him a thumbs up. Tails was watching him with an odd look, but Sonic couldn’t see it. He did feel Tails’ eyes on him, though.

“I’m gonna grab a whiff of fresh air,” Sonic proclaimed, standing up. His voice was back to its usual bravado and confidence. “I’ll be right back.”

Tails was tempted to follow him, and Sonic could see it in his eyes. But he glanced away quickly, as if to say, “Not this time, kiddo.” Tails dropped his gaze and let him go silently. The other three continued looking through the photo album like nothing had happened.

Sonic had wanted to go for a run, but he couldn’t be gone too long. So he opted instead for a walk on the beach, which turned into just sitting on the beach. The sun was quickly descending below the horizon, creating a beautiful light show of vibrant colors on the water’s surface. He pulled his knees up to his chest and released a heavy sigh, allowing his head to rest atop his knees.

“I always took you for someone who enjoys parties.”

Sonic raised his head and looked behind him to find the owner of the heavy, deep voice. He was surprised to find Shadow standing there, several feet away from him. If he’d been less distracted, he surely would have recognized the voice. He wanted to facepalm for being so ridiculous.

“I do,” he clarified. “Just needed a break for a minute.”

Shadow snorted. “A break from your own birthday party?”

Instead of allowing Shadow’s prying to get under his skin, Sonic chose to switch directions.

“You were supposed to be there, too, ya know,” he pointed out. Shadow tensed for a second, but quickly relaxed again—well, relaxed as much as he normally did.

“I was invited. I didn’t have to go.”

“Fair enough, I guess.”

The duo fell into silence. Sonic was unsure what exactly Shadow wanted from him. Was he just here to tease and taunt him? Did he want a sparring match, or a race? Shadow never came around to just hang out. It was then that Sonic realized how odd it was for Shadow to be here at all. How did he find him? Why was he even in town if he hadn’t intended on going to his party? What other reason did he have? As he put the pieces together, he felt like a stack of bricks had been dropped on his head.

“You…you were going to come to the party, weren’t you?” he asked quietly, still shocked from his deduction. Shadow said nothing, just crossed his arms. “Why didn’t you?” Sonic continued.

“You and your friends didn’t seem interested in me joining in.”

Sonic once again felt a ridiculous weight land on his chest. Shadow had super hearing. If he’d been outside the house when they’d had that conversation, he could have heard everything. A painful stab of guilt struck him.

“Shadow, I’m sorry,” he apologized sincerely. “Sticks is suspicious of everyone, and I was just…confused, I guess. I don’t really know what we are.”

“You were right to say we’re rivals,” Shadow mused, taking a step closer to him. So, he had heard that entire conversation. “That will never change.”

Sonic scoffed and rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue. “Works for me,” he concluded ambivalently.

“I’m going to ask you something,” Shadow declared.

“Um, okay? Shoot.”

“Don’t run away.”

“You’re freaking me out, dude.”

“Just _don’t,_ ” Shadow said lowly with a threatening tone.

“Okay, fine, I won’t. Jeez.”

“You don’t have a sister, do you?”

Sonic locked eyes with the dark hedgehog, confusion evident on his face. There was no way Shadow could have heard that conversation. And there was no way for him to have figured out the truth.

“What are you talking about?” he attempted to deflect.

“Don’t act stupid. Well, more than usual.”

“Hey! Why were you even listening in on our conversation?”

“If you must know, I was just passing by on the way back to my home. You and your friends are loud.”

Sonic thought that seemed at least somewhat legit. And, he had to admit, he and his friends could be quite loud sometimes.

“Well, back to your original question,” Sonic started, deciding there was nothing left to derail the conversation with that Shadow wouldn’t notice, “it’s none of your business.”

“You’re right.” Sonic almost didn’t believe that he’d heard the other correctly.

“Come again?”

“You’re right. It’s not my business.”

“So…why exactly are you asking me about it?”

“Because, while it’s of no matter to me, it is to your little gaggle of misfits.” Shadow jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the brightly lit house a little way away.

“What?” Sonic asked, genuinely confused.

Shadow rolled his eyes and took a couple steps closer to him. “Have you ever used that brain of your’s before? You seriously think your friends don’t care that you’re lying to them?”

Sonic stood up and closed the distance between him and Shadow. He narrowed his eyes as anger warmed his chest. He stabbed an accusing finger into Shadow’s chest as he spoke.

“First off: I am _not_ lying. Second,” Sonic leaned in closer so only his companion could hear him, “even if I was, it’d be _my_ secret to keep.”

“You can’t fool me, faker.”

“And you can’t force me to come out!”

Sonic clamped his hands over his mouth, horrified at how loud he’d just been. He turned his back to the other hedgehog and returned to his previous seat in the sand. The beach had fallen so quiet that he assumed Shadow had given up and left. This probably wasn’t near as fun as he’d thought taunting him would be. But, to his surprise, a soft voice spoke up from behind him.

“Come out?”

Sonic turned his head to see Shadow watching him with earnest eyes. He really didn’t know what it meant to come out, did he? And he seemed to genuinely want to know. Come to think of it, this was the nicest Shadow had ever been to him. Sonic sighed and surrendered to the fact that he’d have to play teacher for a bit.

“Coming out is when a gay or trans person tells other people that they’re…well, gay or trans.”

“I’ve heard one of those terms before. ‘Gay.’” He said it like it was foreign on his tongue, as if it was from a language he didn’t know. He didn’t sound disgusted or upset; it just came off as odd.

“Yeah, well. Sexuality is more complicated than just straight or gay, but that’s a whole separate thing.”

Shadow hummed thoughtfully, seeming to accept his answer. His eyes were still fixed on Sonic, though, clearly wanting an explanation for the unfamiliar term.

“Trans means transgender. It’s when someone was assigned the wrong gender when they were born.”

Shadow scratched his chin a moment, eyes focusing on the sand at his feet. Sonic watched him and waited for a response or sign of understanding. After several moments of what seemed like deep contemplation, Shadow spoke up.

“Gender isn’t something I was taught about on the ARK,” he began cautiously. “I don’t know what it entails or how someone can be the ‘wrong’ gender.”

Sonic groaned. He did not want to get into the whole “people confuse sex and gender and tell you who you are based on your genitals.” He wasn’t even convinced Shadow knew what “sexuality” actually was.

“Ok, look,” he started. “Gender is a lot of things. But most of all, it’s what you feel inside. People usually get sorted into ‘boys’ and ‘girls.’ Sometimes, a ‘girl,’” which he emphasized with air quotes, “feels more like a boy. And vice versa. And sometimes, people feel like neither. So, they alter their lives and sometimes appearances to reflect that.”

The empty look on Shadow’s face told Sonic he was still lost.

“Alright, so. Think of me: I’m a boy. To reflect that, I use he/him pronouns. I don’t wear clothes like Mobian girls do. I behave in certain ways to show I’m a man.”

“But you weren’t always?”

Sonic looked back towards the ocean. The reflection of the first stars that were out were visible. He was tempted to stay out all night and look at constellations, but he shook his head. He needed to get back to his friends; he’d already been gone longer than he’d intended.

“No, I wasn’t,” he finally confessed quietly. “But I knew I was a boy, even as a baby.”

“So, you’re…trans.”

“That’s right.”

“And you don’t want your friends to know why?”

“Because…people treat you differently when they know the truth, Shadow. When I first came out as bi, everyone acted weird around me. Well, except Tails. Amy cried about it for a week. Knuckles made me get Grindr and tried to set me up with guys constantly. Sticks obviously had no idea what I was talking about, so I had to give her ‘the talk.’” Sonic shuddered at that memory. “My point is, if I told them, they’d be weird about it. And I don’t want to do that again.”

Sonic was almost convinced that Shadow had taken off again, but he was proven wrong once more when a dark figure sat next to him in the sand.

“I thought that was part of the whole ‘friendship’ thing. Accepting each other no matter what.”

“Yeah,” Sonic sighed wistfully. “So did I.”

“Thank you, for explaining all that to me,” Shadow added, eyes staring at the dark water ahead.

“No problem. Glad I could, ya know, be useful.”

The duo sat in silence for a couple moments. Both were lost watching the magnificent evening waves role in. More stars were beginning to peak out. For the first time in quite a while, Sonic felt truly at peace.

Until the tide touched his foot. Then it was time to go.

Sonic stood up and dusted the sand off of him. He met Shadow’s eyes.

“I should be heading back. Want to…come with me?”

“No,” Shadow declined, almost a little too quickly. “I think I’ll just stay here a bit.”

“Fair enough,” Sonic nodded. He walked back towards the rest of town, but waved behind him at Shadow.

“Sonic?”

He fully turned around and tried to find the other hedgehog’s red eyes in the growing darkness. Once he did, Shadow continued.

“Happy birthday.”

Sonic smiled, and he realized this was probably the first time he’d ever genuinely smiled at the other. “Thanks, Shadow.”

~(*)~

Sonic sped through the desert as fast as his feet would take him. He’d bene running for nearly an hour already, and the sand was starting to weigh him down. Each step became harder, because it was harder to lift his feet off the ground. He felt like he was running on a treadmill, despite the scenery constantly changing around him. He was glad he was actually hyperaware of everything right now because when he rounded a corner, a black and red figure stood in his path.

He screeched to a halt as fast as he could, narrowly avoid tackling the other hedgehog. Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic’s obvious lack of control, but he didn’t comment.

“Shadow,” Sonic started as he straightened back to his full height. “What are you doing here?”

“That yellow friend of your’s said you were on a run and usually finished around here.”

“Okay?”

Shadow said nothing. He reached into his quills and pulled out a small brown box. Sonic eyed it suspiciously, but took it when it was offered to him.

“Forgot about a birthday present,” he mumbled, as if that explained the situation.

“Oh, Shadow, you didn’t need to do anything. It’s not like we’re best friends or anything.”

Shadow snorted and folded his arms across his chest. “Whatever,” he grumbled, his tone indicating annoyance. But he also looked away from Sonic. Was he…feeling self-conscious about this?

Without another word or gesture, Shadow teleported away with Chaos Control. Sonic glanced at the box in his hand, unable to fathom what on Mobius Shadow would have gotten him. He took the thin lid off and nearly gasped when he saw the actual gift.

He lifted the narrow bracelet out of its container and raised it to his eyelevel. It was a simple thing, made of floss it seemed. Sonic wondered for half-a-second if Shadow had made it himself, but he chuckled at himself. Yeah, right, Shadow making him jewelry. When pigs fly, maybe. Yet, he had to wonder then where the other purchased it. This wasn’t the normal type of jewelry you’d find in a store in town. And it was way to soon for him to have ordered it online, considering Sonic’s birthday was yesterday.

He ran a finger over the five different sections of the bracelet. The first part was baby blue. The next was a pastel pink. The middle portion was pure white, just like Shadow’s chest fluff. The final sections were the same as the first two, only in reverse order. He recognized what the colors represented instantly. They were that of the trans pride flag.

Sonic couldn’t hold back his radiant smile as he slipped the new accessory on. He pulled the two strings on the end to tighten it so it wouldn’t slip off. He rotated his wrist several times, admiring it like he had done the previous evening with Stick’s gift. His smile fell as he continued looking at it, a thought crossing his mind. The others would surely connect the dots eventually. He didn’t know when they’d notice his new apparel, or if they even knew what the trans pride flag looked like. But in time, they’d put it together, and the truth would come out. Sonic positioned his hand over the bracelet, intending to slip it back off. Then, he stopped and let his smile return.

Ya know what? It was okay if they found out. It might even be kinda nice not to have to hide it anymore. Besides, Sonic was tired of lying. He wanted to be proud and vocal about who he was, not ashamed and quiet. He grinned down at the new accessory one more time, before dashing off with renewed energy to his house.

Unnoticed by a happy Sonic, Shadow watched the moment from atop a cliff. He couldn’t resist the grin that stole his face and the warmth in his chest.


End file.
